


premiers émois

by lilybluee



Category: Monsta X (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Gods & Goddesses, Fantasy elements, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-30
Updated: 2019-07-30
Packaged: 2020-07-27 03:24:35
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,261
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20039125
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lilybluee/pseuds/lilybluee
Summary: in which a moon god seeks hoseok's assistance





	premiers émois

**Author's Note:**

> so, i just read [the second installment of the nevernight chronicle](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/23264671-godsgrave) series, and my heart died happy in the aftermath, rip yasmina, i squeezed this in a day and i shall rest now
> 
> (there are also some references, but this fic is totally readable ✌️)

☾ 

“…let go, let go you insolent ball of fluff.”

Hoseok tries to wrestle the precious fragile cable from Mimi’s gnawing teeth, but the little shit has her mind set on devouring his adapter cable and ruining it for good. It won’t be the first time this is happening.

“Seriously Mimi, let go, I’ll put you up for adoption, don’t test my patience.”

Never mind the fact Mimi is his familiar and no one can have ownership over her aside him.

The shadow cat makes a sound of protest, her ears twitching this way and that, coral eyes widening in (feigned) fear in hopes of eliciting some kindness and mercy from her owner. Hoseok frowns a last time in warning, and the cat opens her jaw and hops down the desk, disappearing in dark translucent smoke, probably seeking some hole in the wall to sulk.

“…_grumpy old hag_…” the sound seems to come from beneath the floorboards.

Hoseok gasps at the void. “Hey! I’ll let you know I’m a hundred and fifty years old, practically a toddler compared to my ancestors, insult me again and I’ll cut down on your rations.”

Because she’s wise and she loves her food, Mimi keeps words to herself and stays away for now. Hoseok almost tears up at the pitiful sight of the cable. Shadow cats’ fangs are vicious, and the cable has several deep holes in it, no longer apt for good use. He dumps it in his cycling bin and shuffles back to the cauldron where a magick potion is brewing and spitting bubbles into the air. It smells faintly of plumeria, and the color is clear as the empty skies. Requested by someone seeking a cure for her addiction to clover cigarillos, Hoseok felt bad for the poor soul with the suffering lungs and charged her half the price.

He’s grabbing empty phials from the wide shelves circling the shop when the little bells at the door shiver noisily at someone’s arrival.

Hoseok drops the phials on his desk and turns around to greet the newcomer. Instead, his breath catches in his lungs, and his whole body starts aching weirdly. His kidneys thrum in beat, chill dancing on his epidermis and raising goosebumps. Hoseok swiftly reaches for his golden cloak and drapes it over his shoulders. Mimi is there in seconds, circling his neck protectively.

A Moon God.

He’s standing tall, thick as marble, eyes the flashing gray of mourning skies, one tiny crescent on his left apple cheek and a trident hovering in air beside him. His cloak is just as grand, silver and warm, dragging two feet on the floor.

Hoseok can sense it, can taste it, coppery and bitter, it lingers. This Moon God drones in power.

When was the last conflict between Sun Gods and Moon Gods? A hundred years, was it? Two hundred? A thousand?

No matter, Hoseok is completely unarmed and vulnerable to brutal offenses. His scimitar is somewhere down in the basement, and the only weapon he has on him is the dagger he uses to cut stems and herbs, dulled and surely not enough to cause any kind of harm to a celestial being.

But then, the Moon God blinks and says, “Oh, excuse my manners, I was sparring with friends and forgot to drop this at home.” He snaps his fingers and the trident flashes white before it vanishes into thin air.

Hoseok’s heartbeat calms down considerably. Mimi drops from his shoulders to the desk and start licking her paws.

“Pleasant day sir, you scared the living daylights out of me,” Hoseok says and discards his cloak on the armchair.

The God smiles, and the crescent on his cheek gleams, the deity equivalent of a dimple. “Sir?”

“Oh, a slip of the tongue, usually only those of the mortal realm pay my humble shop a visit. Pleasant day, dearest counterpart.” Hoseok bows lightly and the God bows back.

“You can call me Hyunwoo.”

“Then, Hoseok works fine for me.”

Hoseok doesn’t completely relax until Hyunwoo shakes off his massive cloak and puts it beside his own on the armchair. Golden and Silver banners. Sun and Moon. The colors seem to be almost merging as one. The cloaks serve as sophisticated armors, ruthless in defense, repelling attacks like warriors with their bloodied shields under showers of loosed arrows. Hyunwoo is just as unarmed as he, and that puts his mind to rest.

Hoseok walks around his desk and starts filling one phial at a time.

“Apologies for the initial fright, our history conflicts have everything to do with our ancestors and nothing to do with us,” Hyunwoo says. Dressed in black lace top, his whole arms are carved in light, swirls and moons and tiny stars in the center of his clavicles. “I come with a clear conscious and a light heart, but I’m afraid my eyes can’t relay the same.”

Hoseok pauses on the third bottle. He tilts his head, frown creasing his brows.

“It’s been a couple decades since I last slept, which in itself nothing too alarming, but my eyelids are starting to get a tad heavy, my dear Leona is starting to notice the same, and I don’t like putting much worry on her.” Hyunwoo is barely at the end of his sentence when smoke unfurls from the floorboards and a shape starts forming by his feet.

A shadow wolf.

Mimi screeches and curls almost instantly around Hoseok’s neck. The phial could’ve dropped from his hands and marred the opened books cradling every one of his spells. “You bloody lump,” he hisses at his familiar.

The colossal wolf snarls, crimson eyes and fangs barred with the promise of bloodshed, Hyunwoo’s crescent glowing on the center of her head. So subtle it almost goes unnoticed, Hyunwoo clicks his tongue and the wolf shrinks in size and retreats close to his feet.

“Behave, child.”

“…_forgiveness, Lord_…”

Similar to Mimi, Leona’s voice reverberates through the floor and hums intimately close to Hoseok’s ears. He falls silent for a couple seconds until realization crawls to him like a slug. “Are you, perhaps, insomniac?”

Hyunwoo’s face lights up, literally. “That’s my current issue, yes, thank you.”

“And you’re here to seek… my help?”

“If it’s not too much trouble, I’ve head your spells work just as fine on Deities, and I’d love a way to put a halt to my sleeping concerns.”

“But you’re a Moon God, you’re not supposed to sleep the nights.”

“I’m nocturnal, I sleep the days.”

Hoseok could dust the blush off his cheeks. “Oh, right, please excuse my lacking intel.”

“No harm done.” 

Hoseok has already cured insomniacs before, but a God is no mere human, and the ingredients he uses won’t probably hold as well. He might need to double the doze, triple it even, add some stardust to seal it off. He himself naps every other day for one or two hours for fresher starts and quicker wrists. Exhaustion has never known him or knocked on his door.

But a couple decades with no sleep is no easy matter, even to a God as powerful as the one standing before him.

Hoseok claps his hands. Mimi startles to smoke again. “Very well, I’ll start my work this very moment and we shall see how that’ll end. Could you be here early morning? Is that fine?”

Hyunwoo nods. “Early morning it is.” He bows lightly and retrieves his cloak, drapes it over him with the extravagance of ceremonial mares. Hoseok gulps at the level of power this God stands on. Were they head to head in battle, he wouldn’t stand a full minute in his path, thrashed in red sand with golden blood pooling at his feet.

He shows gratitude a last time and leaves the shop, Leona falling in step with him.

Hoseok turns to the refrigerator and gulps ice cubes dry. His temperature has hit a newer threshold, and the leather bands around his wrist have started to melt.

Mimi hops up on the desk again. “…_that wolfie wanted to bite me, idiotic mutt, and that God was stiff as a bull’s bollocks, dear heavens in the sky_...”

Hoseok’s eyes blaze a fierce red. “Shut up, he’ll hear you, you wretched bag of horseshit.”

Hoseok finishes his concoction when the clock strikes twelve and the town grows quiet. The moon is luminescent, gorgeous jewel. In the dark, he sits on his chair and watches the sky through the wide window of his shop, fruit themed curtains flowing with the breeze. Mimi sleeps on his shoulder, purrs in hymns like the magical cat she is, and Hoseok scratches her behind the ears.

He sits there the whole time, watches the sky transition in stages, until dawn bleeds through the night and the sun lights up the dulled solar marks on his palms and chest. Hoseok feels familiar heat branching under his sternum upward to his face, igniting him like a slowly nurtured hearth with logs and twigs.

He whispers to the almost translucent moon. “It’s done.”

Leona shows up then, friendlier than her first reception. Mimi surges awake in alarm.

“..._Dear God of the Bruised Skies, master is awaiting in his hold_...” the voice rings.

Hoseok nods, slips two phials down his sleeve and follows after the shadow wolf.

Mimi growls. “..._The appalling insolence, how dare he summon you as if you’re some common sugarboy looking for coin, bloody-...”_

Hoseok snaps his fingers and Mimi vanishes in shapeless smoke. Leona has her fangs barred now. Hoseok waves a hand in apology.

Hyunwoo’s residence is a château antiquely prepped and shouldered in the deepest parts of the forest. Waterfall and pine trees hang in the back, and a white tiger lies basking in the morning sun on a rock near the wrought-iron fence. Hoseok pats the big clingy tiger and giggles. Somewhere in space, Mimi is hissing in jealousy.

Two sets of wide stairs intersect in the middle upon a burgundy carpet where Hyunwoo currently stands with clasped hands and a warm smile. He has a different cloak on, lighter looking this time, dragging gracefully on the stone floor. Leona joins his shadow and disappears into the dark. Sunrays are barely filtering through the opaque curtains, so the interior is dimly lit and Hoseok feels his temperature rising.

“I deeply apologize for the inconvenience,” Hyunwoo says. “Felt especially spent today and I couldn’t risk any more sun exposure.”

Hoseok shakes his head. “No worries, I’ve also wanted to see if the spell would actually work, this is the first time I’ve ever cooked up something so different.”

Hyunwoo nods and leads the way. Paintings from different time periods witness them ascending the stairs. The master bedroom comes up first where inside lies a single massive bed with fluffed pillows and red covers. The chandelier is made of clear crystals and the wooden desk is completely vacant, save for a chest filled with blades of all sorts with a carved moon at the hilt.

“My friend is a thespian and he likes to borrow those for his shows,” Hyunwoo says while removing his cloak.

Hoseok eyes them curiously. “Can I?”

“Of course.”

Hoseok takes in his hands twin blades made of obsidian and slashes the air. They’re light and deadly, but they could easily shatter under a brutal blow. What captures Hoseok’s eye the most though is the way the moon at the hilts light up with a strange golden hue, similar to the way the suns on his palms illuminate when energy surges through them. Hoseok shakes his head, drops the blades and passes Hyunwoo the phials.

“One should work fine, but a second wouldn’t hurt, I believe.”

Hyunwoo chuckles. Hoseok thinks he might need some more ice cubes.

Hyunwoo gulps one bottle whole and places the other on his stand before he arranges himself inside the covers. The crescent on his cheek is dimmer than before, so are the gorgeous swirls of his arms. His head hits the pillow with a huff.

Hoseok sits by the side of the mattress and looks into Hyunwoo’s tired eyes. “I’m kind of surprised you drank it without questioning what it holds, it could’ve had something poisonous, or worse yet it could’ve had something fatal, deities aren’t as eternal no more.”

Hyunwoo’s lips curve slowly. “I like your humor, Hoseok.”

“I’m not joking, I don’t always have the purest of wills.”

“The most you could do is hurt a bumblebee, accidently of course, then probably cry for forgiveness.”

As a matter a fact, the exact same incident happened less than a week ago. Hyunwoo needn’t know that.

“Well, what makes you think so, sir?”

Hyunwoo shrugs. “I’m an excellent judge of character, I sensed your well-meaning intentions paces before I knocked on your door. Sun Gods are usually known for their chivalry and the need to place some good in the world. The warmth of it fuels you, a common knowledge between the stars.”

Hoseok watches Hyunwoo in silence for a while. His foggy grey eyes are nearly shut, a couple minutes and he’ll succumb to the deepest of slumbers. Hoseok fluffs the pillows and adjusts the covers around him.

“You trust me?” Hoseok asks.

“You wouldn’t be here if I felt otherwise,” Hyunwoo replies.

Hoseok passes a light hand over Hyunwoo’s brows. “I’ll make sure your judgment won’t come with regret.”

Scorching heat nips his arm like larvae. Hoseok frowns in confusion.

“..._He returns_...”

“Ever the observant one, aye.”

“..._Hoseokkie, you know I love you_...”

“You shall address me as Lord Hoseok, Caster of Warmth, Bringer of Sunkissed Skies, Dealer of–”

“..._etcetera, etcetera, alas formalities, I reckon we dropped those eons now, Seokkie_...”

Mimi licks her paws, coral eyes wide and laced with mirth and mischievousness. Perched up on the shelves, Hoseok contends himself with glaring at the shadow cat until Hyunwoo steps in with as much power as the shop could hold without crumbling in on itself.

His blessed carvings glow as bright as the moon in a winterdeep sky, clear contrast from yesterday. Hoseok can no longer hold in his smile, his concoction proving itself beyond useful. Hyunwoo’d been dormant for three days (Hoseok has checked his calendar every now and then), and his energy swishes freely in air, no longer laden with that murky exhaustion.

“Great seeing you again, Hyunwoo,” Hoseok greets.

Hyunwoo smiles so wide the crescent on his cheek winks. “That was some genius craftsmanship you bestowed upon me, Hoseok. Slept like a mortal and woke up to Leona’s whines. I owe you a rich favor.” 

Hoseok shakes his head. “There’s no debt to be paid, I’m just glad it worked, that all.”

“Let me at least take you to the arena where my friend holds his shows, his pieces are a delight and I caught the Lady of Oceans one cold night swooning and quivering over one of his many tragedies.”

Mimi carries awful smugness about her, which won’t deter Hoseok in the slightest. He nods in agreement and makes to meet the Moon God later in the day.

“..._Once upon a tale, two Gods fell in maddening love and conquered the world as one. Skies wept, crops flourished and poverty stilled. Humanity thrived, with richness came generosity, and with generosity came more richness. Tyranny lied in a grave, and the Republic knew to never cross any soul’s liberties. Blessed by the Gods Themselves, the people were of the purest sort_...”

Hoseok’s quill _thump thump thump_s against his opened book. He stares at the blank paper, and she stares back.

“..._It was the greatest time for any poor bastard to be alive_...”

“What happened?” Hoseok asks.

Mimi sighs.

“..._Alas happy endings are but a myth, Soekkie dearest. Jealousy is one hideous toxin. Your kin can wield the sword just as well as your foe, if not better. Backstabbing is one ugly beast, I don’t advice gazing upon its eyes, too hurtful your heart incinerates before your body could follow suit on the pyre_...”

Hoseok’s quill pauses at the drip of ink.

“... _Jealous Deities lashed, calling it Sin, calling it Blight, and homoeroticism has been condemned since_...”

“And then?”

“..._And then one God lost his lover of forever and the Republic plunged deep into the abyss and never resurfaced_...”

The bells ring a new visitor. Hoseok puts away the quill and closes his book.

“He’s a mortal?” Hoseok asks as the aforementioned friend delivers a heavy dramatic speech tearing at his heartstrings. The theatre is large and full, all seats occupied, and Hyunwoo and he mingle with mortals in plain attire and hidden celestial marks.

“Hyungwon is lovely, a great storyteller, a frail health, his roles no easy feat to pull,” Hyunwoo says.

Just then, another actor joins the stage, armored in black breastplates with embroidered falcons. The warrior unsheathes his sword and charges at the escaped slave in shredded loincloth, the thrust catching him in the heart, blood spurting from his chest and mouth.

Hyungwon catches his failing breath, mouths at the warrior, ‘lover.’

The warrior, grim faced, hard as stone, his mask never cracking in face of duty.

Hoseok’s eyes brim with tears.

“Chicken blood.” Hyunwoo says. “They fill bladders and stick them to costumes, though looking now, one could believe it’s real.”

Hoseok passes sleeves over damp eyes. “He’s incredible.”

The applause sounds off the moment the two actors stand up hand in hand, bowing and sticky with blood. Hoseok stands too and claps until the theater hushes to silence.

They attend two final pieces before they decide to walk the surrounding market place. They’ll meet up with Hyungwon later, once the theater is immaculate and clean again.

“I can’t thank you enough for exposing me to such talent,” Hoseok says. “I can’t believe I survived this far without a lick of _The Warrior and The Slave_.”

Hyunwoo smiles, his crescent cheek back in full, his sun–

his sun...

_two Gods fell in maddening love and conquered the world as one_

Hoseok looks down at his hands. Instead of the two familiar solar orbs, his left palm bares a moon as bright as the one hanging on the skies above.

The new tiny sun on Hyunwoo’s right cheek is a replica of the one on Hoseok’s right palm, branded with an invisible hand.

Hoseok remembers the moons on the hilt of the blades that glowed for him.

Remembers the nipping heat upon touching Hyunwoo’s brows.

Feels his temperature racing stallions.

Hyunwoo catches on, holds gently Hoseok’s hands in his, and the heat that surges almost sends him to cosmos and turns him a star. Hyunwoo visibly shudders but refuses to let go. “Dear Heavens, the tale holds true. Sun Gods and Moon Gods made one Entity once upon an age, the evidence sits clear as the cry of gulls down the harbor.”

“..._oh shit_...” Mimi breathes by his ear.

“oh shit,” Hoseok echoes.

Hyunwoo lets his hand go, at last, but the bursts down Hoseok’s arms continue their trail, the rush intoxicating, heart plummeting.

They look at each other in silence for one long heavy minute.

Hoseok is first to crack. “Guess I’ll have to wed you now, can’t think of a better way to be unified again.”

Hyunwoo laughs, low and gentle it feels like salve. “You should get me goldwine first, and a ride by the Bridge of Souls and Bones, and perhaps flowers too but I’d still prefer them attached to their roots, Lady of Spring prefers her fields unharmed.”

Hoseok smiles grand, his suns and moons beating as one.

☼ 

**Author's Note:**

> thank you so much for reading ♡♡♡


End file.
